strange one!

Post scam emails to warn other rental owners, or if you are not sure if an enquiry is genuine, put it up here and see what others think.
bobby spray
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 2:15 pm
Location: Stirling scotland

strange one!

Post by bobby spray »

Okay a bit of a strange one here but I'll keep it brief.

Got a call last night from a Romanian woman living in Aberdeen saying that she wanted to book for a week starting today.
Agreed a price and she arrived with her partner today (by bus)
she looked around the apartment and asked where we lived (upstairs, it's a basement apartment). I handed over the keys and left after taking the weeks money upfront in cash.
got a text barely 10 mins later to say please call me. I did and she asked me to come to the apartment right away.
I go into the kitchen and there is another woman there who is apparently the auntie of the man. The original woman then starts on about how they have just received a call from Aberdeen an that a relative is gravely ill and that they have to leave now.
I am beginning to get a bit suspicious of them and decide to give them their cash back straight away. They leave in the pouring rain with a twenty minute walk back to the bus station.
I have checked over the apartment and everything seems to be okay... nothing missing or broken.
The question is what on earth were they up to? I am assuming that the ill relative might have been just an excuse to get out?
We have never had anything like this before and have 5 star reviews on TA, with no negative comments so it can't have been the apartment. very confused!
Sam V
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Post by Sam V »

Maybe they were going to bring in the rest of the (extended) family, throw out all your possessions they had no use for and settle down for winter (and beyond) but when they realised you also live upstairs they decided your place was not suitable for them (to take over) so left (to join the rest of the family) around the cormer.
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FelicityA
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Post by FelicityA »

Perhaps they have taken photos and are going to pose as the owners and advertise it on gumtree? ( sorry, suspicious mind...).
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

I would strongly suggest this thread is moved to the members only forum before any other suggestions are made.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

zebedee wrote:I would strongly suggest this thread is moved to the members only forum before any other suggestions are made.
+1

Very odd but not the right place to discuss.
cysgod y coed
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Post by cysgod y coed »

Change your locks.
If you can keep your head when all around you are panicking.......you have probably not seen the whole picture.
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to halt this discussion. :(
I just think it should be picked up in the members only area. Perhaps you could open it up there, as someone might have something helpful to suggest.
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

It sounds like whatever their plan was it got spoiled when they found out you lived upstairs.

I would hope that whatever they were up to was brought to a halt given you can watch the property quite well being onsite.

Gosh....there are some wierd happenings at the moment!

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Gordo
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Re: strange one!

Post by Gordo »

bobby spray wrote:Got a call last night from a Romanian woman living in Aberdeen saying that she wanted to book for a week starting today.
Agreed a price and she arrived with her partner today
I'm not sure it would have got that far with a lot of owners Bobby... I'm thinking a mix of booking forms, terms to agree to and ordinarily doing such things in a structured way allows an owner some breathing space for a bit of due diligence or even just a gut feeling about a booker.

Instant booking is fine for hotels as their numbers can allow for the odd bad egg but too risky for me for sure.

If it smells like a rat and acts like a rat then it's a fair bet that it's probably a rat!

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bobby spray
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 2:15 pm
Location: Stirling scotland

Post by bobby spray »

Lesson learned. We won't be taking any cash payments at all from now on. I reckon that Sam was on the right track. I forgot to mention that the third woman had a suitcase with her as well. So she was definitely looking to stay. I reckon they just bottled it. I'm 6'3" and an ex county rugby player... they were probably worried I would have kicked off... and would have :evil: My wife took the original call so maybe they thought that fleecing a woman would be easier.
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